The Dragon Stone

by Andrew G. Wood

  The strange light hit the balgraf stopping it mid-air and sending it thumping to the sand in a heap. The body twitched a few times, before going still as thin tendrils of smoke drifted up from it. While he was not certain the beast was dead, he had absolutely no intention of getting any closer to find out. Instead, Akeev quickly turned about and ran up the beach as fast as his legs could carry him, heading back towards the relative safety of the dunes, glancing back only once to see if he was being followed.

  Only when he could run no further did he stop. Breathing hard, he struggled for breath, turning to look back, and was thankful when he could see no sign that he was being followed. After a minute or two, he stood upright, his breathing returning to normal as he spotted a dark shape in the corner of his eye. This time it was in the sky, and thankfully not heading his direction, figuring it must be one of those creatures he had seen hatching from the large strange looking eggs.

  Knowing he needed to find a place to sleep the night, he pushed on, ever mindful in case anything was following him. He stopped suddenly. Something had changed, and it took him a few minutes to fathom out what it was. The land to his right was different, and the air was not quite so pungent as if the taint was somehow less prominent here. The land beyond was still barren, but here and there he could see a few scattered shrubs and even a tree, although it looked rather sickly and limp.

  He also spotted a possible stopping off point in the distance, although it would mean him moving away from the safety of the coastline. The pull towards the place was strong, and he did not know why his mind kept telling him he needed to be further inland. All common sense would dictate he should stay as far from the tainted lands as possible, but deep down he knew he should venture in, and this was the place to do it.

  Having made up his mind that was precisely what he was going to do, he first went back down to the beach to scour the multitude of rock pools for his supper. Limpets were always in plentiful supply, and after a little digging about he also managed to find two crabs, although neither were particularly big. Nonetheless, he would at least have enough food to keep starvation at bay for a little while longer, and with a purpose in mind, he headed for a what he thought looked like the ruins of a small village.

  As he approached the remains, he immediately noticed how a few were in far better condition than some of those he had spotted farther south. As to the reasoning behind this, he was unsure but thought perhaps that these ruins were not as old. If of course, that was the case, then that would mean they were not of troll origin; something that intrigued him. He knew the troll lands had been barren and dead for many centuries, and while these remains still looked old, they did not appear quite as much so. Moreover, he also spotted that the layout of the buildings was very different from the ones he had seen since landing a few days earlier as if more spaced out.

  Akeev stepped over some of the ruins, always looking for those places where rainwater might have gathered. After much searching the village or town, whichever it had been, was unsurprisingly bereft of any living persons, although as he had spotted earlier, one or two sickly looking plants existed. One building he found was almost intact, at least as far as the stonework went, however, the roof had collapsed in, he thought probably due to the timbers rotting, and it was here he decided to call his home for the night.

  Here he could light a fire, and remain unseen, just in case anything was lurking around out in the wilderness. As to the purpose of the building he was unsure. There were remains of several carvings into one wall, and he thought that perhaps it was a place of worship, especially as it was shaped differently and a little larger than the others. At one end there was a large stone bowl, and although he had no idea as to its original purpose, it did provide him with the source of drinking water he needed. Moreover, amongst the fallen roof slates on the floor, he also discovered a metal dish. While not huge or particularly deep, it would allow him to cook his food properly.

  With his fire lit in one corner, he placed the bowl just over the flames. With some of the water inside, he then pulled the limpets from their shells and dropped them in, before doing likewise with the two crabs he had found. He then added some of the seaweed he carried, always the last resort as an emergency food in case he could not find anything else, and let it boil slowly. After cooking it for about twenty minutes, he carefully moved the bowl from above the flames, using two sticks so not to burn his hands, and left it to cool. While it was doing just that, he thought to explore around the building a little more.

  Using a stick, still burning at one end, he ventured over to what he assumed was the back of the building, noticing an opening in the corner. After kicking some of the rubble aside, and holding his makeshift light out in front of him, he could see the opening had stone steps leading down. Always the curious one, Akeev blew gently on his burning stick to keep the flame going, before stepping over a pile of fallen slates and into the dark unknown.

  The steps were a little steep, and the ceiling of the downward passage quite low, meaning Akeev had to stoop slightly. Fortunately, a troll’s natural posture was often a stooped back, and so the position was almost natural to him. There were only nine steps leading down into a small dark room that he guessed was about half of the size as the one above. Again, as to the purpose of this underground room, he had no idea.

  In the small amount of light being given off from his burning stick, covered at all times by his free hand, so it did not blow out, he could see several objects scattered about the floor. In the poor light, however, he stumbled forward, tripping on one such item which ultimately caused him to drop his only source of light. Despite his best efforts, he watched as the flame at the end died away, leaving him in total darkness.

  After cursing several times, he sat there, unsure of what to do. The only sensible thing would be to crawl his way back the way he had come and try to find the steps leading back up. However, he had a thought, one that he thought was a good one, which Akeev knew was a rarity in itself. He reached for the strange stick he kept tied to his back at all times, the one that had saved him just a few hours before. If he had managed to produce a magical light with the stick, then, perhaps he could so again.

  Not for one moment did he think he had any kind of power, although was beginning to think that the stick he had found on the dead dwarf may well do. Holding it with one hand, he felt blindly with the other, as he ran his thick fingers along the length, feeling the markings upon it. Quite how he had managed to make it work before he was unsure, but he thought, trying again would not do any harm.

  Slowing his breathing down, and closing his eyes to allow him to concentrate a little better, despite it being completely dark anyway, he tried to picture a light in his mind. Whether this was the right way of going about it, he guessed he would soon find out, yet despite never doing this kind of thing before he felt this was the way it should be done. He slowly opened his eyes to see a small ball of blue light flickering at the end of the strange stick, and while it was a little unstable, it gave off enough light to illuminate the entire room.

  After a few seconds the light petered out, but now he knew he could do it, managed to repeat the process again. He slowly stood, at least as far as the low ceiling allowed him to do so, and turned back to see what it was he had tripped on. Lying, discarded on the floor was some kind of bag, made from what he assumed to be a type of animal hide. It was cracked, and some of the stitching had rotted away, but it was generally not in bad condition considering how old it must have been.

  While holding his glowing stick in one hand, trying to keep the light emitting from it steady, he felt inside to see if it contained anything. Aside from a small book, bereft of many of its pages, there was a kind of animal horn, hollowed out inside. Whoever it had once belonged to had definitely made it very ornate, as it had a shiny metal cap at one end, which he soon discovered, turned on a thread. Although empty inside, he thought it might have once contained some kind of pungent smelling drink, and if rinsed out
and cleaned might be just the vessel he was looking for to carry water.

  Akeev was just wondering who the bag had belonged to when he turned his head slightly to reveal the answer. Slumped against the far wall were the remains of what he assumed was an elf or human. The body was too long to be a dwarf and too short to be an orc or a troll, and still had remnants of the clothing it had been wearing when it had died. Not one to care for the feelings of the dead, Akeev shuffled over to see if the body had anything worth taking.

  Not worrying about disturbing the dead, he rummaged among the bones to find a metal chain, that he assumed had once been around the neck of the corpse. There was no pendant or disc on the chain, and although he had no intention of wearing it, decided to take it anyway and placed it in his new bag. None of the clothes left were any better than the little he wore and decided against taking any of them.

  He turned again to see what else he could see and shone his light towards the far end of the room. Upon the wall were hundreds of miniature coloured stones set in it, that made up a picture depicting what he assumed to be an elf. The focal figure appeared to be looking down at dozens of smaller figures, and he wasn’t sure whether it was supposed to have had some kind of religious meaning, or whether it was supposed to be an adult overlooking her young.

  The light at the end of his stick flickered again, and in his annoyance, at not being able to maintain a steady glow he flicked it out sideward. He startled himself as a bolt of blue light fired out and struck the wall to his right, splintering what appeared to be a timber façade. After focusing his light once more, he shuffled over to where he had just damaged and noticed a space behind the hole he had just made. Inside was another corpse, and he thought he had uncovered some kind of burial tomb.

  Deciding to investigate further, he used his free hand to break away a larger chunk of the false wall and peer inside. Just as he had assumed, it was indeed some kind of burial chamber, which actually contained two bodies. Whether they were related in some way, he did not know, but he was immediately drawn to the sword placed atop of one of the corpses. Thinking it was no use to the dead, Akeev gently lifted it out, and despite the fact it was likely to be very old, it was in surprisingly good condition.

  Further rummaging revealed several coins to add to his collection and a few items of jewellery which he placed in his new bag. After browsing around for anything else that may be of use, he ventured back up the stone steps to where his supper still sat waiting. After placing a few more pieces of wood on his small fire, he sat down and made himself comfortable, before starting to eat.

  Chapter 10.

  Finley had never felt so cold in all his life. The higher they climbed, the colder and stronger the wind seemed to become, although Moira assured him it would get easier once they reached the hidden valleys. Apparently, if they were to find the dragons, that would be the place to do so. A place that had its own climate, and somewhere Moira had never actually been to herself, although she knew of its existence.

  However, once they had reached these valleys, Finley was apparently due to head out on his own, as per Meldra’s instructions. Despite not being the talkative type, especially to the opposite sex, he had found chatting to Moira surprisingly easy, if a little annoying. The downside being that he was now all but certain she had some kind of crush on him, and although he thought, as a person, she was quite nice and friendly, the very idea of him being anything more than friends with a dwarf felt somewhat repulsive.

  Finley would have been the first to admit that he was no expert when it came to relationships and women. Moira though seemed not to hide the fact she wanted something more, as she openly flirted with him, winking when he looked over and even blowing him a kiss from time to time. Whether she was doing it more frequently because he hadn’t rebuked her for doing so, or whether she could see it made him uncomfortable and did it to annoy him, he was uncertain. Whatever the reason Finley was beginning to look forward to the time when they had to go their separate ways.

  While Moira set up camp for another night out in the freezing cold, Finley thought to check on Karesh’s progress by linking with Sessi. Since setting out, he had only done so on one occasion, as he did not want his brother to think he was checking up on him all the time. With Moira out gathering firewood for their camp, Finley took shelter in their small canvas tent out of the biting winds. Closing his eyes, he concentrated but found it much more problematic in making a link. Although he did eventually achieve it, making the connection took much longer than normal, and he was beginning to wonder whether there was a limitation as to the distance of his capabilities.

  Having to keep his mind focussed he could see through Sessi’s eyes, looking up at the young orc, whom it had to be said seemed quite jolly. The terrain they were in was far different from that in which he found himself. While his surroundings were cold, windy and very rocky, with sparse shrubs and short stumpy looking trees, Karesh and Sessi seemed to be out of any wind and were walking alongside a narrow stream with lush green grass running aside its banks. Happy that everything seemed okay, he broke the link with the wolf and returned to the cold reality of his own situation.

  Moira seemed happy to do most of the work, although Finley had offered several times to help out. The young dwarf was quite obstinate about the entire thing, telling him he had his job to do and she had hers. Finley had just shrugged his shoulders, not just because he was actually happy for her to do most of the work if that was what she wanted, but also because it meant more time when she was not staring at him.

  As the pair of them sat beside the warmth of the campfire, watching the last of the day’s light disappear, they ate the last of their premade stew. They still had plenty of other food, but this was the end of the meals they had brought along with them. From now on they would have to spend a little longer each night preparing and cooking than they had been doing, although, in all honesty, Finley did not mind.

  “You know you will probably die trying to find a dragon!” Moira blurted out while they ate.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he replied dryly.

  “Will be a shame. For a human you are actually quite cute,” Moira then added, before shovelling a huge spoon full of stew into her mouth. Finley just gave a nod, wishing she would stop saying such things and making him uncomfortable. “I’m not human anyway. I’m a half-breed,” was the only thing he could actually think of saying.

  He had learned from the outset that Moira was all bar a few months, the same age as he was. While he was in no way attracted to her in any way, shape or form, he supposed as far as dwarfs went, she was easier on the eye than most he had seen. “You know I will die soon?” she said, stopping him from placing another spoonful of stew into his mouth. “Sorry?” he said, unsure he had actually heard correctly.

  “I will die soon. My grandmother has already foreseen my ending,” she said as if it were a typical thing to be discussing over supper.

  Finley scoffed at the idea, “You can’t know that. How can she see things that have not yet happened?” He leant over slightly and whacked her hand with his spoon, “See, you didn’t know that was coming, did you?” he added hoping he was making a mockery of her beliefs. Moira just looked at her hand, before glancing over to Finley reminding him that her grandmother had foreseen his arrival a long time ago. Finley had to concede the point, the elderly dwarf was supposed to be a Seer after all, even if she was a bit weird and forthright in the way she did it.

  Moira ate more slowly, pausing between mouthfuls of stew and bread to tell a little more of her story. Her grandmother had known for some time of Finley’s arrival, and that when that time came, Moira would be the one to show him the way. However, in the images, Meldra had not been able to see how successful their task had been. As to whether he found a dragon and made a link, was unknown, but one thing was for certain, and that was there were no more visions of Moira after that time.

  Finley scoffed again, “That doesn’t mean you are going to die
,” he replied for the first time actually being interested in what she was telling him. The very idea that no matter his actions, the future was already planned out for him, was not a comforting one. Surely Seers could only foretell a possible outcome of a person’s future, or at least that was the way he believed it to be. After mopping up the last of his stew with a piece of bread and popping it into his mouth, he looked over at the dwarf sat beside him. “I have never known her to be wrong yet,” Moira replied, placing her own bowl down.

  “Well, I’ve no intention of dying yet, nor of letting you die,” he found himself saying, hoping she did not take it for more than what it was.

  When it was ready for them to sleep, Finley closed his eyes, keeping his back turned to Moira. The very thought of having to wake up in the morning and have a dwarf staring him in the face was not a scenario he wished to endure, especially a dwarf like Moira. He lay there a while, listening to her fidgeting about before her breathing slowed and he thought she had fallen asleep. Happy she was, he yawned and set about doing likewise.

  His dreams over the past couple of nights had been unusually very ordinary and somewhat more boring that those he was used to. However, tonight he hoped to see one of the gods, although he wasn’t sure whether or not he could contact them or he just had to wait for one of them to appear to speak to him.